The Two-Thousand-Year Flame Spirit Fox Soul Ring (Part Two)

Lin Chen suppressed every ripple of soul power around him and, light as a sparrow, silently retreated behind a thick, thousand-year-old tree with the docile, obedient Liuli beside him.

The broad, sturdy trunk, dense branches, and thick bark perfectly concealed the two people and one beast, making it an excellent hiding spot.

"Stay here quietly. Don't move around or release even a trace of soul power. Whatever you hear, don't come out."

Lin Chen lowered his head and kept his voice extremely low, his instructions earnest.

Liuli was already connected to him in heart and mind. At his instructions, the little beast gently nodded its furry head.

Its clear, limpid eyes watched Lin Chen quietly as it obediently tucked in its limbs and nestled deep in the shade, suppressing every trace of its presence until it lay utterly still.

Only after confirming that Liuli was completely hidden and would not give away its whereabouts did Lin Chen slowly straighten and look through the layers of foliage toward the woodland nearby, where warmth permeated the air.

Shrubs grew thickly there, and the soil was warm. It was the nesting ground of the Flame Spirit Fox pack. Several small, scarlet figures could faintly be seen darting and leaping through the trees, nimble and swift.

Mo Yuan stood with his hands behind his back, his plain robes stirring gently in the forest breeze. His presence was calm and restrained, without the slightest outward pressure. He looked like an ordinary traveler, showing none of the bearing of a powerful soul master.

Only his tranquil eyes held a gaze as keen as a blade. They had already precisely locked onto the slightly larger Flame Spirit Fox with the strongest presence in the pack.

It was a Flame Spirit Fox that had lived for a full two thousand years, the leader of this small pack.

Its soul power foundation was the most solid, and its essence the purest. It was also the ideal target soul beast for Lin Chen to break through level thirty and form his third Soul Ring.

"I'll draw it out."

Mo Yuan spoke softly, his tone level and unruffled.

"With pack-living soul beasts, a chaotic battle is the greatest danger. Once they attack together, there are too many variables. Drawing one out to kill it alone is the safest approach."

Before his words had faded, he gave an almost imperceptible flick of his fingertip without otherwise moving.

There was no earth-shaking display, no dazzling radiance of soul power. A colorless strand of soul power, fine as gossamer, shot through the air at tremendous speed, silently crossed dozens of meters of forest clearing, and struck the tree trunk beside the two-thousand-year Flame Spirit Fox with perfect precision.

Crack—

An extremely faint sound of splitting wood rang through the silent forest, quiet yet distinct, just loud enough for the highly vigilant Flame Spirit Fox to catch.

At the same time, that strand of soul power carried a faint hint of provocation. It threatened no life, yet precisely stirred the leader's territorial instincts.

Sure enough, the slightly larger Flame Spirit Fox instantly grew alert. Its scarlet fur bristled a little, and its nose twitched rapidly as it keenly detected the unfamiliar soul power.

It raised its head toward the source of the sound, vigilance and anger instantly appearing in its golden eyes.

As the pack leader, it had occupied this territory for years, and few outsiders dared brazenly provoke it.

Without lingering, it pushed off with all four limbs and became a streak of scarlet light, swiftly leaving the pack and racing toward the disturbance in soul power. It intended to track down the intruder and drive out the stranger who dared trespass on its territory.

The other ordinary Flame Spirit Foxes continued moving around their nesting ground, noticing nothing amiss. Taking it for an ordinary disturbance in the forest, they went on lounging and playing, utterly unaware that their leader had already stepped into a certain death trap.

Seeing that he had successfully drawn out his target, Mo Yuan's eyes showed a trace of quiet composure. With light, unhurried steps, he retreated toward a more open part of the forest.

He maintained a distance that was neither too close nor too far, keeping the Flame Spirit Fox's attention firmly fixed on him while denying it any chance to counterattack or close in.

His movements flowed like drifting clouds and running water, his control all but flawless.

Man and fox traveled one behind the other, soon leaving the nesting ground far behind and passing completely beyond the pack's range of perception.

They arrived in an open, unobstructed stretch of woodland, far from the surrounding soul beasts' nests.

The ground was level and the sightlines clear. There was no need to worry about surprise attacks amid a chaotic fight, nor were there unnecessary obstacles to interfere with the coming kill and absorption. It was an ideal soul hunting ground.

Only then did Mo Yuan slowly come to a halt, ceasing his retreat completely and standing quietly in place as he waited for the charging Flame Spirit Fox.

The two-thousand-year Flame Spirit Fox was extremely fast. In moments, it raced to within a dozen or so meters of Mo Yuan and abruptly stopped.

Scarlet flames rose faintly around its body, sending searing heat washing toward him. Its golden eyes locked onto the human figure before it, and its whole body tensed, ready for battle.

It could clearly sense that the human's soul power was unfathomable, and instinctive fear arose within it. Yet its anger at the provocation to its territory still drove it to stand its ground, confronting him stubbornly as it waited for an opening.

Mo Yuan remained calm, utterly unruffled before the thousand-year soul beast poised to strike.

He neither launched an aggressive attack nor deliberately dodged. He simply watched it quietly, his tone light as a cloud:

"Around two thousand years old. Just right for Lin Chen's third Soul Ring."

He sounded as though he were appraising an object rather than facing a highly dangerous thousand-year soul beast.

The next instant, Mo Yuan finally raised his hand. A faint light flashed at his fingertips, and an exceedingly fine, concentrated thread of colorless blade intent shot through the air.

This slash had neither overwhelming force on display nor blinding radiance, yet its speed exceeded the limits of sight, and his control over its power had reached the very pinnacle.

It neither destroyed the soul beast's essence nor shattered its core foundation. It merely delivered a precise strike against its soul power pathways and the outer layer of its vitality.

Pfft—

A faint sound passed through the forest.

The Flame Spirit Fox, which had been bristling with menace and wreathed in blazing flames, suddenly stiffened. The fire-attribute soul power surging through its body broke off and scattered in an instant.

The scarlet flames blazing across its body vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye, like a candle snuffed out in an instant.

Its limbs buckled, no longer able to support its light body. Like a kite with its string severed, it fell heavily and slammed into the thick carpet of rotting leaves, scattering fragments of dry leaves and dust.

In a single brief instant, the balance between attack and defense had completely reversed.

The Flame Spirit Fox lay on the ground, its body twitching faintly and its limbs hanging limp, unable to raise itself again.

Its once-abundant vitality drained rapidly away. Its breathing grew faint and broken, the rise and fall of its chest increasingly shallow and rapid. It had fallen utterly to the brink of death.

A trace of instinctive awareness remained, and its eyes held deep terror and unwillingness. Yet it could no longer summon the slightest soul power, and even the strength to lift its head had vanished.

Mo Yuan withdrew the blade intent at his fingertips, his expression still calm and untroubled, as though he had merely brushed away a speck of dust rather than gravely wounded a thousand-year soul beast.

He turned his head slightly and spoke softly toward Lin Chen's hiding place. "Come out."

Hearing him, Lin Chen immediately stepped lightly from behind the tree, his movements nimble and utterly soundless. Liuli also quietly followed behind him.

He turned and told Liuli, still curled in the shade, to keep waiting quietly. Then he hurried alone toward the center of the clearing and came before the dying Flame Spirit Fox.

But just as Lin Chen bent down, preparing to end the fox's life, the Flame Spirit Fox—which lay sprawled on the ground, seemingly stripped of all ability to resist—suddenly unleashed its final survival instinct.

Its limp right forepaw abruptly rose. Its slender, razor-sharp claws carried a faint trace of fiery energy and the last of its strength as it viciously swiped at Lin Chen, who stood within arm's reach!

The strike was swift and treacherous, utterly unexpected—the final counterattack of a dying soul beast, desperate and vicious, almost impossible to guard against.

Lin Chen's gaze sharpened slightly. Reacting with incredible speed, he instinctively twisted aside to dodge.

Whoosh—

The sharp fox claws skimmed past the front of his robes with a faint hiss through the air, barely missing him. By the narrowest margin, he escaped the dying beast's sneak attack.

Had he hesitated even slightly, those claws would surely have torn through his flesh.